
my to-be-read list
january 2012
- Volt by Alan Heathcock (stories/debut)
december 2011
- So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell (novel)
- The Empty Family by Colm Toibin (stories)
november 2011
- An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski (nonfiction)
- The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (novel)
- We The Animals by Justin Torres (novel/debut)
october 2011
- Notes Home From a Prodigal Son by Douglas Glover (essays)
- The Court of Common Pleas by Alexandra Marshall (novel/reread)
- The Gathering by Anne Enright (novel/reread)
september 2011
- No Place on Earth by Christa Wolf (novel)
- The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (novel)
august 2011
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (novel)
- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (novel/reread)
- Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler (novel/reread)
july 2011
- Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (novel)
- Natural Causes by Mark Cox (poetry)
june 2011
- Elle by Douglas Glover (novel)
- The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen (debut novel)
- The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow (debut novel)
may 2011
- The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch (memoir)
- Reality Hunger by David Shields (nonfiction)
april 2011
- This Won’t Take But A Minute, Honey by Steve Almond (essays and stories)
- The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera (craft)
- A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit (essays)
- Contents May Have Shifted by Pam Houston (novel)
- Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann (stories)
march 2011
- The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley (stories and a novella)
- Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster (craft)
- How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly by Connie May Fowler (novel)
february 2011
- Under the Mercy Trees by Heather Newton (debut novel)
- Wrecker by Summer Wood (novel)
january 2011
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (novel/reread)
- The Gathering of My Name by Cornelius Eady (poetry/reread)
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (novel)
- Showing & Telling by Laurie Alberts (craft)
december 2010
- Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler (novel)
- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (did not finish) (novel)
november 2010
- Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg (debut novel)
- Evocative Objects edited by Sherry Turkle (essays)
- Coming to Writing and Other Essays by Helene Cixous (essays)
- By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (novel)
- Journeyman’s Wages by Clemens Starck (poetry)
- Shakespearean Design by Mark Rose (craft)
- Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (novel/reread)
october 2010
- Jesus’ Son by Dennis Johnson (stories/reread)
- Words Overflown by Stars edited by David Jauss (craft essays from the Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty)
- The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (novel)
september 2010
- Nothing To Be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes (memoir)
- The Art of Time in Fiction by Joan Silber (craft)
- Rhythm in the Novel by E. K. Brown (craft)
- A Doctor’s Visit: Short Stories by Anton Chekhov (stories)
august 2010
- The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart (debut novel)
- Jane Addams: Spirit in Action by Louise W. Knight (biography)
- Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel (debut novel)
- Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips (novel)
- A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert (novella)
- Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter (short novel)
july 2010
- Alone With All That Could Happen (craft) by David Jauss
- Last Rites by David Jauss (novella)
- You Are Not Here by David Jauss (poetry)
- Black Maps by David Jauss (stories)
- My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira (debut novel)
june 2010
- Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn (debut story collection)
- Rabbit, Run by John Updike (novel)
- Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom (stories)
may 2010
- The Maytrees by Annie Dillard (novel/reread)
- Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott (novel)
- Verging on the Pertinent by Carol Emshwiller (stories)
april 2010
- The Maytrees by Annie Dillard (novel)
- If I loved you, I would tell you this by Robin Black (debut story collection)
- More of This World or Maybe Another by Barb Johnson (debut story collection)
- Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson (novel)
- Evidence by Mary Oliver (poetry)
- A Kind of Flying by Ron Carlson (stories)
march 2010
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (nonfiction)
- How Fiction Works by James Wood (craft)
- The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (stories)
- Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright (debut novel)
february 2010
- Love and Summer by William Trevor (novel)
- Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel (stories)
- Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (debut novel)
- Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (essays)
january 2010
- Devotion by Dani Shapiro (memoir)
- California Transit by Diane Lefer (stories)
- Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro (stories)
december 2009
- Mentors, Muses, & Monsters edited by Elizabeth Benedict (essays)
- The Signal by Ron Carlson (novel)
november 2009
- An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay (first novel)
- The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (novel)
- Things You Should Know by A. M. Homes (stories)
october 2009
▪ A Brief History of Time by Shaindel Beers (poetry)
▪ Snoop by Sam Gosling (nonfiction)
▪ A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (novel)
▪ The Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds (novel)
▪ poemcrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldrigde (craft)
▪ wildlives by Monique Proulx (novel)
september 2009
▪ Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (novel)
▪ Speak Low by Carl Phillips (poetry)
august 2009
▪ That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (novel)
▪ Fearless Confessions by Sue William Silverman (craft)
▪ The Music Room by Dennis McFarland (first novel/reread)
july 2009
▪ This is Water by David Foster Wallace (essay)
▪ The Way to Write by John Fairfax and John Moat (craft)
▪ The Best American Short Stories 2008 edited by Salman Rushdie (story anthology)
june 2009
▪ Thinking About Memoir by Abigail Thomas (craft)
▪ The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher (novel)
▪ The Writer’s Notebook (craft essays from Tin House)
▪ The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (first novel)
may 2009
▪ The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan (first novel)
▪ When the Piano Stops by Catherine McCall (memoir)
▪ Don’t Cry by Mary Gaitskill (stories)
▪ Stop-Time by Frank Conroy (memoir)
april 2009
▪ Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (novel)
▪ Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (novel)
▪ The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King (novel)
march 2009
▪ House of Light by Mary Oliver (poetry)
▪ The Secret Currency of Love edited by Hilary Black (essays)
▪ In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin (nonfiction)
▪ Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (novel/reread)
february 2009
▪ A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by YiYun Li (stories)
▪ An Accidental Light by Elizabeth Diamond (first novel)
▪ Safe Suicide by DeWitt Henry (essays)
▪ Plant Dreaming Deep by May Sarton (memoir)
▪ Watching the Spring Festival by Frank Bidart (poetry)
january 2009
▪ Dirt Music by Tim Winton (novel)
▪ The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennetts (nonfiction)
▪ Light in August by William Faulkner (reread/novel)
december 2008
▪ Last Night by James Salter (stories)
▪ Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk (reread/novel)
▪ The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (novel)
november 2008
▪ Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (autobiography/audio)
▪ A Mercy by Toni Morrison (novel)
▪ In the Fold by Rachel Cusk (novel)
▪ Home by Marilynne Robinson (novel)
october 2008
▪ To Kill a Mockingbird (novel/audio)
▪ November 22, 1963 by Adam Braver (novel)
▪ The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk (novel)
▪ Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (reread/novel)
▪ A Life’s Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk (memoir)
september 2008
▪ The Country Life by Rachel Cusk (novel)
▪ The Temporary by Rachel Cusk (novel)
▪ Falling Through Space by Ellen Gilchrist (reread/essays)
▪ Saving Agnes by Rachel Cusk (first novel!)
august 2008
▪ Why Write? by Paul Auster (essays)
▪ The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (first novel!)
▪ Picturing the Wreck by Dani Shapiro (novel)
july 2008
▪ Walking to Martha’s Vineyard by Franz Wright (poetry)
▪ Three Uses of the Knife by David Mamet (essays)
▪ Light in August by William Faulkner (novel)
▪ Strong is Your Hold by Galway Kinnell (poetry)
▪ Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk (novel)
▪ The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso (memoir)
june 2008
▪ The Heart is a Loney Hunter by Carson McCullers (reread/novel)
▪ The Problem with Paradise by Lesley Dahl (ya novel)
▪ Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos (novel)
▪ Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (memoir)
▪ Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje (novel)
▪ Flight by Sherman Alexie (novel)
▪ Late Wife by Claudia Emerson (poetry)
may 2008
▪ Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (linked stories)
▪ Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (novel)
▪ A Dangerous Age by Ellen Gilchrist (brand new novel!)
▪ The Spy who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre (novel)
april 2008
▪ Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti (stories/debut)
▪ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (novel)
▪ The Awakening by Kate Chopin (novel)
▪ The Gateway by T. M. McNally (stories)
▪ The Gathering by Anne Enright (novel)
march 2008
▪ White Noise by Don DeLillo (novel)
▪ Falling Man by Don DeLillo (novel)
▪ Playing with Fire by Dani Shapiro (novel)
february 2008
▪ Slow Motion by Dani Shapiro (memoir)
▪ Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (novel)
january 2008
▪ Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (novel)
▪ Five Skys by Ron Carlson (novel)
▪ Ron Carlson Writes a Story by Ron Carlson (craft)
▪ The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter (craft)
▪ Fugitive Blue by Dani Shapiro (novel)
Please post a comment if you have any questions about these books.


“It’s hard to tell somebody what you mean to say. And that’s an idea that I’m obsessed with. It’s why I write. It’s why everybody writes.”
--Jonathan Safran Foer
WOW!
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman…
Voracious reader that I am, I have to say that I have not ready any one of these books! I now have a solid list to add to my “to read” list.
If you have any questions about a specific book, please feel free to post here.
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I really really really liked Ron Carlson’s The Signal. Although I obtained this book from the library, it is one that I ‘covet’ . . . and wish to have on my shelf – to read again . . . and maybe again.
hope
http://hopeseguin.wordpress.com/?s=ron+carlson
Hey Hope! Nice to see you here. I’ve just read the first page of The Signal, and with your words I can’t wait to pick it back up again tonight. I see you liked Five Skies as well. So did I. I appreciate your leaving a comment!